Red River

In 1873, Lucy and Israel Smith are living in Louisiana near a town called Colfax in a swampy area called The Bottom. There has recently been an election, and the black community in the area helped vote Republican officials into office. The federal government promised to send troops to protect these politicians and, by extension, the black citizens of the town from violent backlash by the Federalists and White League reactionaries. However, no troops have come, so Israel decides that “the new officeholders arriving today would need local protection from the colored men of Colfax” (9).

Lucy is pregnant and instinctively knows what Israel is thinking of doing. While Israel wakes their two eldest sons, David and Noby, she cooks and packs him food for three days. Despite Israel’s reassurance that he will return in a day or two, Lucy believes “can’t nothing but grief come from you showing yourself like this” (10). She is adamant that “laws be on our side. Colored politicians sitting side by side with white down in New Orleans, and our colored men up here vote different-thinking men into Colfax, fair and square too” (11). Although he hates confrontation, Israel disagrees with his wife, saying there would be no meaning to their vote if the Republicans they voted for were turned away by the “old guard in Colfax” when they tried to take office (11).

David and Noby join their parents. David does not resemble the rest of the family; he is pale, freckled, and has sandy hair with gray eyes. He is the eldest, and Israel is not his biological father. Neither boy is used to hearing their parents disagree. David asks Israel if he can accompany him into town, but Israel brings Noby instead, angering David. Israel and Noby reach Red River and follow it north toward Colfax. Although the town is close, Israel rarely goes there. When Noby asks how long it will be until Easter, Israel tells him about three weeks based on the lack of leaves on the pecan trees.

At the center of the town, they find around two dozen black men in front of the doors of the courthouse. Prominent among them is Isaac “McCully” McCullen, wearing “his trademark slouch hat, a weather-beaten wreck of a fedora” (14). He is speaking to a white man, who is revealed to be the newly elected Republican sheriff. The group cannot get into the courthouse, as the previous sheriff, Sheriff Nash, has the key. Noby suggests that he can crawl through the half-open window and open the courthouse from the inside. The sheriff supports this idea, saying, “[S]ooner we get inside, sooner we establish Republican rule and stand up for our rights” (16). McCully waits for Isaac to give his approval, which he does, though he doesn’t have much choice as he “would have to go against the wishes of a white man to speak his true mind” (16).

McCully lifts Noby through the window. Noby has a reading primer tucked into his waistband, and when he drops inside the courthouse, “he is tempted to linger in a place that holds so many books” (17). He is already learning and can write his name. He finds his way down the hall to the front door and unlocks it, letting the group inside. Israel makes sure Noby is safe, seeing himself in the boy’s quiet manner and moodiness. Israel feels that “the sublime blessing of freedom is exacting its price, is demanding his participation here today, and he wants his son to see his bravery” (19).

Lucy and Israel met as slaves of the same master when she was already pregnant with David. When David is born, it is obvious to Israel that his father is a white man, which sickens Israel. Noby is born at the end of the Civil War, when Israel and Lucy are already free. At first, Noby is sickly, and one summer day Israel lays him in a wagon to await his death. While Israel sits with his son, a black man named Hansom Brisco passes on a horse and offers to take Noby with him to heal him. Hansom Brisco promises to return the baby once he is well, or else to return the body if he dies. Israel is skeptical, sure that the baby will die. Hansom Brisco also promises to send food to Israel and his family. Israel agrees, and Hansom cares for Noby, bringing food and updates to Israel and Lucy often. After two months, he returns Noby, now a healthy baby, who “had been stolen the first time from death” (23).

In the courthouse, the men organize themselves to support the three new white elected officials: the sheriff, the judge, and the tax collector. Israel helps the group open boxes containing rifles and then digs a ditch to create a barricade around the courthouse. After lunch, he tells Noby to go back home and to warn his mother “I might be staying longer than I thought” (24).

A week after the takeover of the courthouse, Israel wonders if he should abandon the cause and go home, like others have done. He goes outside to join McCully and Sam Tademy. Sam has just arrived as his wife, Polly, was sick. They are worried that the Federal troops haven’t arrived yet but are hopeful they will appear soon so that they can return to their farms and their families. McCully is more optimistic, saying, “[L]eastways in town we got guns and numbers on our side” (28). Israel thinks of Lucy and his family, deciding that he will leave today to return to them, one way or another.

McCully takes Israel and Sam to the roof, where he requested to be posted. Like many of the men, Sam is angry about leaving his family and risking his reputation:

[A]ngry that all he has to show for eight years of freedom is more children, a mule and a wagon that aren’t yet his, a few saved coins buried beneath the live-oak tree by the smokehouse, and a stumbling dream on which he has yet to make good (29).

Sam thinks that taking the courthouse puts the whole black community at risk. He is there to make Colfax and The Bottom a better place for his children, but he is doubtful that the old white guard will ever accept their newly elected officials.

McCully takes off his old, worn fedora and tells them: “this my voting hat” and that, just like the “phoenix feather” on the hat, “we gonna get stronger and stronger and rise from the ashes where we been” (32). When Sam points out that the feather comes from a common local bird, McCully is disappointed in his “failure of imagination” (32).

From the roof, they can see all of Colfax, which is only a few buildings and a store. Beyond is Smithfield Quarter, where much of the black community lives. McCully tells Sam that he will use his clout to get him one of the Enfield rifles that the group has commandeered. Sam is skeptical until McCully reveals that he wants to send his children to Sam’s “colored school,” which is still only a dream. McCully believes wholeheartedly that the school will come to be because Sam is a leader (34).

The men practice drills to prepare for a confrontation with the whites. Sam and Israel are in the same unit. While on patrol, they hear two warning shots from the courthouse. Nine white men on horseback are approaching slowly, surprised by the show of black power. Both groups are nervous.

The white leader, Smokin’ Jimmy Hadnot, is from one of the biggest, most politically connected families in the area. He is a high official in the White League, which exists to “terrorize white and black Republicans, to keep them away from polling places, but the organization has obviously expanded its charter” (36).

Hadnot speaks condescendingly to the black men gathered at the courthouse. He then tells them, threateningly, to go home. Hadnot demands to speak to someone in charge, but Levi Allen tells him to leave. This infuriates Hadnot, who reaches for his gun. He backs down when he sees that the black men are armed and ready to fight back. He demands to see the new sheriff and shows them a “warrant for the arrest of black radicals” (38). However, he is rebuffed again, as his warrant from Montgomery does not stand, especially with the new Republican sheriff in office. At last, Hadnot turns around, but threatens: “[C]ount on us coming back” (39).

Sheriff Shaw holds a meeting once the patrol returns and wants to call for deputies, because “we got word a group out of Montgomery planning to attack Colfax tomorrow. They threatening to replace all the Republican appointees with their own party and hang the black radicals” and he wants to keep the peace (40). McCully steps forward to argue that they can’t protect the courthouse while also keeping the peace; the white men will try to use force, and they will have to fight back. Sheriff Shaw deputizes McCully along with 15 other men.

Later, Israel prepares to leave and is intercepted by McCully and Sam. McCully urges him not to quit. Even if the Federals don’t come, McCully wants to show the white men that the black community is strong, to break their old way of living. When Israel argues that he needs to protect his family, McCully counters that Sam is going to bring his family up from The Bottom to Smithfield Quarter. Israel should do the same, as there is more safety in numbers. Unable to argue more, Israel agrees.

Israel walks home, and Lucy is relieved to see him. However, he tells her that he is not home to stay. He tells her what has happened at the courthouse and that he is going to bring them to Smithfield Quarter for safety. 

Lucy has moved to McCully’s house in the Smithfield Quarter, but she does not like living in someone else’s house and feels no safer there. Still, she thanks McCully’s wife, Carolyn, for taking in her six children, only two of whom are a help to her. Her dear friend Polly Tademy comes over with whiskey to help Lucy’s teething baby.

Polly tells Lucy that Sam brought her news: “[T]he new sheriff just capture the old sheriff and holding him down at Calhoun’s Sugarhouse. And some colored break into a white man’s house in town” (52). Lucy asks why Polly isn’t scared for Sam, like she is afraid for Israel. Polly says, “[Y]ou be surprised what a person got in them to do when the time come” (53). She decides that she and Lucy will take food to the courthouse and go inside to clean and to see the conditions inside. She reasons this will calm Lucy’s nerves.

When they arrive at the courthouse, Israel tells them: “this no place for women” (54). However, Polly will not be deterred and says she will clean around the men if they won’t move for her. Inside, they find that the courthouse is filthy, and they are stopped from entering one of the rooms, where a meeting is happening. Polly sends Lucy to find twine and sacks in the storeroom. There, Lucy discovers a small crawlspace under the floorboards. She gets Israel and Sam, who pry up a few floorboards to retrieve the twine. Lucy and Polly clean for three hours but cannot fully remove the smell. The act of cleaning doesn’t help Lucy calm down or feel less afraid.

Noby sits on McCully’s front porch, waiting for Israel to visit. At last, Israel appears, walking quickly and nervously scanning his surroundings. Noby tells his father that he wants to help out at the courthouse, but Israel tells him to “stay away and out of trouble. You not even ten yet” (58). Israel tells Lucy that word has come that the white men are gathering at Summerfield Springs, but they don’t know why. The white men don’t have a leader, since Sheriff Nash was captured. Noby overhears this conversation and sneaks away to go to Summerfield Springs.

Noby is good with directions and knows two ways to get to Summerfield Springs. He follows Red River and then turns into the woods to get there. He once again has Sheldon’s Primer tucked into his waistband, which makes him feel safer. As he is walking, a white man on a horse approaches and asks him the way to Summerfield Springs. Noby points him in the right direction, and the man introduces himself as “Mr. Narcisse Fredieu” (61). He asks if Noby’s family is involved in the courthouse business, which he denies. Mr. Fredieu says, “[B]etter not be. Bad business. Can’t be allowed to drag on,” which Noby feels is important information (62). The man rides off, and Noby proceeds cautiously toward Summerfield Springs.

He finds a good spot at the edge of the bayou and settles in to listen. The white men in the clearing are waiting for someone; to pass the time, Noby takes out his primer and flips through the pages. Hansom Brisco brought the book for the community, and Noby has “devoted himself to the task of understanding how those letters came together in different ways to form distinct words” (63). He is annoyed by the carelessness of the white girl on the cover, who lets a book fall at her feet, “as if it would always be there if she wanted to read it” (63). He turns to his favorite section of the book and eventually falls asleep.

When he wakes, he is happy to see the book is not ruined – Sam Tademy would be furious. There are more white men in the clearing now, discussing how to deal with the situation at the courthouse. Noby recognizes the voice of Narcisse Fredieu, who is advocating for talking to the black men supporting the Republicans, if only to avoid a confrontation with Federal troops. Smokin’ Jimmy Hadnot is of the opposite opinion, arguing: “it’s up to us to teach the black sons of Canaan a lesson. ‘Specially the black radicals. We got to string them up” (67). Sheriff Nash speaks, offering to call the members of the White League. Hearing this, Noby moves to leave, since the sheriff was supposed to have been captured. He sneezes after stepping in the river, but the white men do not hear him. He hears the white men agree to clear the courthouse by force.

Noby runs back to Colfax where he meets with a patrol led by Eli McCullen, who takes him to the courthouse to deliver his news. He tells Sheriff Nash and the rest of the leaders about Sheriff Shaw and the white men. Nash tells him that they are reviewing a proposal of peace from Smokin’ Jimmy Hadnot—who had been plotting an attack. The peace proposal calls for the radicals to turn themselves over to justice. Israel arrives and warns Noby never to endanger himself again while the leaders draft a response to the letter. They agree to the terms, as long as no one joins Hadnot’s attack.

Two days later, the two sides arrange to talk to one another peacefully. Two hours into the talks, Eli McCullen rides to the courthouse with news that his brother Jessie has been shot in the head by the white supremacists, though he was not involved in the courthouse takeover. McCully vows to avenge his brother.

Sam shows support for McCully, who goes inside the courthouse to try to kill the white men. When Eli learns that the white men are inside the courthouse talking, he goes inside and chases them out with some of the others in the crowd. They restrain McCully, who tries to shoot them.

The story of Jessie spreads through the black community quickly. More black people come into Colfax, while most of the white families leave. With that, “the precarious relationship between colored and white in Colfax crumples” (82). As the number of men helping to occupy the courthouse grows, newspapers as far as New Orleans start printing the news of Colfax. Sam’s son, Green Tademy, is one of the few black people who can read, and he reads the news article to a group of men, including Israel and Sam. It suggests authorities are on the way. While they wait, Sam suggests that they hold a funeral for Jessie McCullen, to “respect his passing. Tomorrow Palm Sunday, no better time than that. The women can bring food” (85).